Westbrook’s Triple Doubles are Legit and Profitable

byJohn Ewing

Russell Westbrook made history Tuesday night by recording his 41st triple-double of the season in a 110-79 win over the Milwaukee Bucks. Westbrook tied Oscar Robertson’s single-season mark and has five games remaining to set a new NBA record.

Westbrook is now a 5/7 favorite to win the NBA MVP per Bovada.lv. (James Harden is 1/1). Critics of the OKC star will say that Westbrook is stat stuffing – meaning his points, rebounds and assists are coming at the expense of his team. If this were true then we would expect the Thunder to perform worse in games that Westbrook records a triple-double. However, that is just not the case.

For the season, Oklahoma City has a record of 44-33, a win rate of 57.1%. In the 41 games that the MVP front-runner got a triple-double the team has gone 32-9, a win rate of 78.0%.

Better yet, Westbrook’s triple-doubles have been highly profitable for bettors. OKC is 30-11 against-the-spread when Westbrook records at least ten points, rebounds and assists. A $100 bettor would be up $1,745.90 if they bet the Thunder against-the-spread in every triple-double game.

Westbrook’s triple doubles are legit and profitable. He just needs 16 more assists to become the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double for an entire season.